3D modelling to pinpoint skin lesions on ApreSkin app

Written by Kate McDonald on 15 September 2014.

Brisbane-based dermatologist Brad Jones and his team from 3D Medical Software have launched a native iPad app called ApreSkin that promises to help streamline the way doctors perform skin consultations and improve the way they track and record patient data.

Aimed at dermatologists, plastic surgeons, general practitioners and skin cancer specialists, ApreSkin uses a realistic 3D model to accurately locate and record skin lesions or conditions on the model with automated localisation of the body site.

It features fully customisable pop-up lists for data entry of common diagnoses, procedures and phrases, or data can be entered via the keyboard or the iPad's in-built voice recognition.

At the moment, many doctors type a description of the location of a skin lesion into the patient's record or mark a spot on a 2D body map, and then scan this into the record. Clinical photos are also often taken but do not directly attach to the correct patient record.

“With the advances in technology and particularly interactive 3D software, I believe we need to modernise our current medical software especially in dermatology, which is a more visual specialty and would benefit from this change,” Dr Jones said.

“At the moment we are still using the same generic medical software that was being used 10 to 15 years ago.”

Dr Jones said that by using an iPad, clinicians can easily generate a patient report or medical record of the skin consult using realistic 3D models to accurately mark skin lesions or conditions along with automated data entry of the location.

“Then at the press of a button, simply attach photos or screenshots to aid future identification of the lesion,” he said.

The app has the ability to attach clinical photos and screen shots of the body site to be stored with the medical record, and a report of the consult can be generated at the push of a button for options such as printing, emailing to a colleague or to store in the patient's file. Dr Jones said the long-term plan was to integrate the app more closely with practice management software such as Genie, which he uses in his practice, but this is not possible as yet.

"At this stage a report can only be linked with the patient's record," he said. "A report can be Air-dropped onto the desktop using software such as Drop Box, and with the new iOS 8 and Yosemite that's just been released you will be able to Airdrop directly from iPad to Mac."

The app includes customisable templates for skin surgery and laser procedures as well as an optional PASI template for psoriasis.

Dr Jones said all data on the app is encrypted and protected by a pin number, and can be backed up to a laptop or desktop via iTunes.

The app is available on the App Store for $129.99. An overview of how to use the app and another on how to use it for surgery, laser and PASI score treatments are available on YouTube.